I can't breathe

Their wickedness is great (Joel 3:13) 

In my blog on 27th May, I wrote about a universal principle of injustice, one rule for the rich and another for the poor. What you don't know is that I had initially included the difference in American justice between black and white men. I cut it out because I thought it might be too insensitive and didn't have time to fact check it. 

So consider my horror when I heard about George Floyd. 'Lynched', as one commentator put it, in full daylight in front of a crowd by four police officers. George collapsed to the ground at which point an officer knelt on George's neck for early 9 minutes including for 2 minutes after another officer had failed to find a pulse. And George's crime? Well, no, he had done nothing wrong. He was suspected by the officers of cashing a fake bill for the princely sum of 20 dollars. In reality he was a leading figure in local care for the vulnerable and addicted,  honest, upright and loved by all. His real crime? To be large and black and male.

I find myself terribly affected by it, on the point of tears each time I hear the story again, horrified that one human being could treat another in such a brutal way while others watched. How could a person see themselves as so above the law that they felt justified in such action? How could someone kneel on a helpless man as he pleaded for his life, while he cried out that he couldn't breathe, and then continue to do so after he shows no signs of life for whole minutes, while no one stopped him, while three police officers charged with upholding the law looked on?

There is a suspicion that it was personal. It seems the two may have known each other for they worked as bouncers in the same club. But that makes it even worse for then the officer took an opportunity to murder George offered by his rank. What kind of system enables such behaviour? Well, clearly the American one for this event is by no means the first. Young black men shot by police officers in the back, strangled by police officers in the street, falsely accused, unfairly arrested, beaten, murdered, all in the name of justice, all it seems with impunity. If you are black you are still up to eight times more likely to be executed for a capital crime than if you are white, and there is a similar increased likelihood of being arrested for a minor crime. Really 'their wickedness is very great'.

So what can we say? I think some would like to blame the system. Just as minor Nazis in WWII got caught up in a wickedness that seemed to overwhelm their moral compass, so police officers are caught up in a system that brutalises young black men. But I don't buy this. As they said at the Nuremberg Trials, they should have known better, they did know better. It is a reason but not an excuse. I think we may allow it to make their actions easier to forgive, but we may not allow it to make their actions less evil in the first place. To see forgiveness in its true light we need to see evil also under the spotlight. This is never more true than in the execution of Jesus. It is necessary to see evil at its worst for the greatness of salvation to be made clear.

This we hope may be true of the American police force. We pray that at last the racism that lies at the heart of many police forces will be exposed to the light so that it may be rooted out and removed. Then maybe forgiveness can find a way back in. Reading about George Floyd I rather suspect he'd value that as a worthy tribute to a life cruelly cut short but lived with great courage and love. 

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide